Uproar over ‘dominance’ of Kenyans in Africa CDC jobs

The continent’s top health body, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, is being accused of ‘over-employing’ Kenyans.

The organisation was launched in 2017 to support the health systems of African countries and played a major role in securing Covid-19 supplies for the continent.

However, it is now being accused of employing more than half of its 300 workers from Kenya and Ethiopia, where it is hosted.

This fact was pointed out in a special audit that accuses the organisation of lacking regional and gender balance yet it is supported by 54 African Union member states.

“Some 81 per cent of the staff were English-speaking on a continent with a wide range of language diversity — this includes 39 per cent of countries officially speaking French. And more than half of the staff came from Kenya and Ethiopia — an uneven balance for a continent with 54 countries,” said Devex, a media platform that reports on global development activities, which obtained the audit report.

It was not clear how many Kenyans work at Africa CDC, but the organisation had about 300 employees early this year.

The audit was ordered by director general Dr Jean Kaseya, who joined the organisation in April last year.

Since 2019, the deputy head of Africa CDC was the celebrated Kenyan global health specialist Dr Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, who also acted as interim director general until Kaseya was hired.

In March, Dr Ouma was forced out of his position in changes to ensure regional representation.

Many of the senior positions were re-advertised as Africa CDC was also transitioning from an organisation within the AU into a more autonomous health agency.

Only candidates from 32 AU member states – excluding Kenya – were allowed to apply for the deputy director general position.

However, in a Linkedin post in March, Dr Ouma said his departure was because of “personal” reasons.

“It has not been an easy decision considering my love and commitment to Africa, but the time has come for me to pursue my professional and personal growth elsewhere. I also confirm that my decision is not in any way related to, nor motivated by, any of the ongoing recruitment processes within Africa CDC or the African Union,” he said.

The organisation is tripling its workforce to more than 900 workers, a move that could disadvantage Kenyans because they are already seen as “overrepresented”.

It employs workers on regular contracts and short-term contracts, where 90 per cent of all workers fall.

Most of Africa CDC staff are seconded by partners and the renewal of their contracts is subject to the availability of funds or the needs of the organisation, Devex reported.

The current director general, Dr Jean Kaseya, is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a member of the East African Community.

He is already under fire for hiring a candidate from East Africa for a senior position, bypassing a higher-ranked candidate from southern Africa yet there are few regular staffers from that region, according to the audit.

Kenya hosts Africa CDC’s Eastern Africa Regional Collaboration Centre in Nairobi and is set to host the Regional Emergency Operations Centre due to the country's strategic geopolitical position.